Advanta: Worldwide challenges

Includes bibliographical references.Advanta, headquartered in the Netherlands, is the sixth largest seed company in the world. It sells seeds for a broad range of field crops in many different regions. While the company is committed to applying biotechnology in plant breeding, it is faced with many uncertainties due to political reluctance on regulatory decisions and to low public acceptance in Europe

KWS: Going beyond sugar beet

Includes bibliographical references.KWS, a German seed company, is a world market leader in sugar beet seed. The company is looking for expansion into other crops—maize and cereals—and into other regions of the world—Eastern Europe and North America. As KWS expects biotechnology to bring major benefits to its customers, it continues investing in biotechnology research and development (R&D), although it does not expect changes in public acceptance in Europe in the short term

AgrEvo: From crop protection to crop production

AgrEvo is a German producer of crop protection products. In 1995 it made the strategic decision to shift from crop protection to crop production, with the help of biotechnology. It acquired Plant Genetic Systems (PGS), a successful plant biotechnology company, and started a round of acquisitions in the international seed industry. The company soon found out that biotechnology brings many new uncertainties in strategic decision-making.Includes bibliographical reference

Contract Farming in Developing Countries: An overview

This paper presents a review of the literature on contract farming (CF), focusing on recent empirical research on the economic impact of CF. The paper starts with an explanation of the phenomenon of CF, providing definitions, typologies, models and objectives. Using a Transaction Costs Economics framework, the paper explains for which products and market CF seems most suitable. The empirical literature on CF is assessed by answering three questions: Why do smallholders engage in CF? Are smallholders included in or excluded from CF arrangements? What impact does CF have on smallholder income and rural development? Finally, the paper identifies the conditions under which smallholders are most likely to benefit from CF schemes

Dynamics in crop protection, agriculture and the food chain in Europe

Overview on the vital role of plant protection in Europe in maintaining and enhancing the dynamics of agricultural production and the food chain. The report offers an overview of the achievements of more sustainable production methods in European agriculture, and the actions taken by the farming community in response to private market initiatives and public policies. Such actions establish new farming systems. The report offers factual information, as well as analyses to put trends in context

The Rise of New Farmer Cooperatives in China; Evidence from Hubei Province

Since the late 1990s, the number of farmer cooperatives in China has rapidly grown. The adoption of the national law on farmer professional cooperatives in 2007 has led to significant governmental support for the establishment and management of farmer professional cooperatives. This paper explores the organizational features of the newly established cooperatives as well as the services they provide to their members. Particular attention is given to the role of local entrepreneurs in grouping farmers and in acquiring support from local and regional state agencies. The paper is based on data about a group of 200 agriculture and aquaculture cooperatives in Hubei province, central China.Agribusiness,

The rise of new farmer cooperatives in China; evidence from Hubei Province

Since the late 1990s, the number of farmer cooperatives in China has rapidly grown. The adoption of the national law on farmer professional cooperatives in 2007 has led to significant governmental support for the establishment and management of farmer professional cooperatives. This paper explores the organizational features of the newly established cooperatives as well as the services they provide to their members. Particular attention is given to the role of local entrepreneurs in grouping farmers and in acquiring support from local and regional state agencies. The paper is based on data about a group of 200 agriculture and aquaculture cooperatives in Hubei Province, central China

Co-operatives in chains: institutional restructuring in the Dutch fruit and vegetables industry

Co-operatives play a major role in the agricultural and food industry. Co-operatives, by the very nature, are producer-oriented firms. As market conditions for food products have changed in recent decades, the question is raised whether co-operatives are still efficient organisations for carrying transaction with agrifood products? Bijman (2002) has addressed this question for the fresh produce industry in The Netherlands. Traditionally, fruits and vegetables were sold through auctions, organised by grower-owned co-operatives. In the 1990s several auction co-operatives merged, transformed into marketing co-operatives, and vertically integrated into wholesale. In addition, growers have set up many new bargaining associations and marketing co-operatives. These new co-operatives have started crop and variety specific marketing programmes. For reasons of asymmetric information and investment-related transaction costs several of the new co-operative firms have also included the wholesale function.transaction cost;asset specificity;asymmetric information;auction;co-operatives;fresh produce

Entrepreneurship, Collective Entrepreneurship and the Producer-Owned Firm

Entrepreneurship is predominantly associated with the activities of an individual actor – the entrepreneur. It has also been related to the concept of firm ownership (e.g. Foss and Klein, 2005). This may lead to the conjecture that a collectively-owned firm is a setting for collective entrepreneurship. However, such reasoning encounters a number of taxing questions. If entrepreneurship is usually related to the individual, how does the collective embody entrepreneurial spirit and lead to effective outcomes? These and other questions will be addressed in this paper, which is mainly based on a review of the literature. The paper starts by providing an overview of the different schools of (economic) thought on entrepreneurship. Subsequently we discuss the implications for the conceptualization of entrepreneurship when it is not carried out by an individual but by a group of people. Finally, the notion of collective entrepreneurship will be framed within the context of the producer-owned firm in agriculture, by considering conditions under which collective entrepreneurship can be attributed to the cooperative.entreprepreneurship, cooperative, pro, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,